Concert programme of Red Star

"Crisp, Flawless, Red Star Is Without Peer. The dance group brought the crowd to their feet with whistles, yells and clapping along."
-Phyllis Wolf, Des Moines Register

MEADOWLAND
music by L.Knipper - text by V.Gusev

Originally part of Lev Knipper's Fourth Symphony (Ballad of a Young Soldier), this quintessential Russian melody - text by Victor Gusev - is known the world over. It tells of young soldiers going to the front to defend the meadowlands of Mother Russia.

COSSACK'S DANCE
dance company

A group of Cossack warriors, vociferous and untamed, ride into the steppes on horseback and begin a competition to show off their strength and valor. For sheer bravado, the Cossacks are unrivaled.

THE EVENING BELLS
music by S.Rachmaninov

Having imposed upon himself self-exile from the communist regime he abhorred, Sergei Rachmaninov lived and died in America. However, no emigre composer retained his Russian character more than Rachmaninov, the greatest and last of the Romantics. The choral setting of Evening Bells is a testament to his incomparable gifts in writing melodies.

STABLE THE HORSES
song

Like so many Russian romances, the title of this love song does not convey its message, but its lyrics do. A group of Cossacks come back after a strenuous ride, and after they groom their horses, all go to sleep except one young man who dreams about his love and how wonderful it would be to see her.

THE SWALLOW
a folk song

A son travels from his native Armenia to faraway lands, and finds that he misses his home where his elderly mother is waiting for him. He asks a little swallow to fly to his home, and to make a nest near the window of his mother's home.

MILITARY DANCE
dance company

Every army in the world travels on its stomach (figuratively speaking, of course), including the Red Army and, as all recruits know, all cooks were plumbers in private life! In this light-hearted romp, the draftees "celebrate" the cook and his pot!

"Shining Red Stars, Russian Army Chorus And Dancers Perform With Precision And Dash...The chorus is indisputably the star. Its ability to move from a long, barely audible hum to a huge, cascading sound within a phrase was remarkable."
-Margaret Putnam, Dallas Morning News

CAROL OF THE BELLS
a folk song

This intricate, ever so charming traditional tune comes from the Ukraine. In the west the song is sung as a carol at Christmas.

REGIMENTAL POLKA
music by B.Terentiev - text by V.Gurian

During a brief respite on a long march, a man performs a merry tune on his accordion. Others sing: "It is a great pity there are no girls around here!".

IN THE SUNNY MEADOW
music by V.Solovyov-Sedoy

In the sunny meadow sits a young lad who dreams of his sweetheart. Before going off to a battle, he had proposed to a girl, but her naughty answer was: "if you come back decorated with a badge, then we can start talking." And surely enough, his bravery in dangerous combat won him a medal. Now, he has sent a letter to his beloved in their snow-covered homeland and hopes that she will finally accept his proposal.

RUSSIAN DANCE
dance company

This choreographic composition, staged in an academic manner, clearly characterizes the stylistic features of the Russian Folk Dance; a dance built upon contrasting episodes and unbridled gaiety. One of its brightest moments is the finale which is full of brilliant tricks, and ending in a joyous coda. The musical accompaniment uses Russian folk songs and melodies. This particular dance was choreographed by the famous Russian ballet master, Vayatcheslav Modzolevsky.

DARK EYES ("OCHI CHORNYE")
gypsy romance

Gypsies have been wandering for decades in the steppeland of Southern Russia and their songs and dance have become inseparable from Russian folklore.

"Dark eyes, passionate eyes,

How I love you, how I fear you

You have brought my life to an end.

Oh, Dark eyes."

VOLGA BOATMAN
a folk song

A traditional Russian song of the Burlaki - haulers who tied themselves in straps and towed loaded barges along the Volga River. The leader, walking at the front, would begin a song describing the boatmans' difficult life: "Oh you, Volga, mother river; how wide and deep you are."

"Spectacular Dancing Really Made The Show. The Russian and Ukrainian Hopak dancers looked like multicolored, low-altitude fireworks as they kicked, leaped 20 feet in the air and spun so as to keep them constantly horizontal and airborne."
-Ken Hunt, Seattle Times

Brooklyn Center For The Performing Arts, 1996-98

UKRAINIAN HOPAK DANCE
dance company

The Cossacks were famous not only for military exploits, but also for their virtuoso quick-paced dancing. The famous and traditional Hopak is filled with surprises and acrobatic movements, and first appeared as a Cossack warrior dance. It is now popularly regarded, especially throughout the Ukraine as a folk dance.

SPRING SONG
music by I.Dunayevsky √ text by M.Matusovski

"It is good when there are songs to be sung at the first blush of spring; when the water of a brook is babbling, to hear these utterances of friends everywhere. . . " (Matusovski)

MOSCOW NIGHTS
music by V.Solovyov-Sedoy - text by M.Matusovski

The song that is so widely associated with Russia tells of love for ones home country, saying: not a stir is heard in the garden. Everything will be so quiet until morning. Alas √ "┘if only you knew how precious they are to me, those Moscow nights".

SAILOR'S DANCE
dance company

This is one of the most famous of all Russian dances based upon folk choreographic traditions. An arrangement of a well-known sailor's song, "Yablotchko" (little apple), its story describes a competition between crews from different ships.

KALINKA
a folk song

One of the most famous folk songs, Kalinka (Little Snowball Tree) invariably appears in the repertoire of many choirs and orchestras. It is about a small declaration of love dedicated to a snowball tree. It is especially popular because of its impetuous and light-hearted character, speeding up in the refrain to a frenzied tempo.

"Oh, my sweet little snowball tree,

Oh you, succulent raspberries in my garden,

Oh you, my beautiful girl,

Fall in love with me. "

THE SUN DISAPPEARED BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN
music by M.Blanter √ text by Kovalenko

In the heroic war song Sunset over the Mountain, one can hear from far away, the song of the soldiers who are returning home from the battlefront. When they see the flag that protected them during the fight, the soldiers sing of their victory and hail the upcoming reunion with their families in the beloved homeland.

"Russian Musicians, Dancers Dazzle The Crowd. The Incomparable Red Star, Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble lived up to its lofty billing in a brilliant show. A near-sellout crowd of about 2,200 warmly embraced this troupe of 120 musicians, dancers and singers in a two hour program. . .male dance soloists drew gasps of amazement."
-Maureen Bogues, Lincoln Star

SHENANDOAH
an american folk song

When asked to select an American folk song and arrange it for his choir, colonel Bazhalkin went straight to this magnificent sea shanty. Its beautiful melody speaks a universal language.

KOROBEINIKI
russian folk song

This Russian melody lends itself well in an arrangement especially crafted for the multifaceted and varied colors that can be effected by the nation's extraordinary and unique instrument, the balalaika. "Who knows how much I love thee? The grass knows, the flowers; the night knows, the music of the night; my heart, throbbing, also knows."

"The Red Star Red Army Chorus And Dance Ensemble From Russia Is Polished And Highly Professional . . . enthusiastically received at Avery Fisher Hall. . .Patriotic fervor yields to artistic values in this smoothly concertized program. The choreographers have distilled the essence of the Moiseyev mold into numbers that are appealing in their imagery and bravura."
-Anna Kisselgoff, NY Times

RUSSIAN YARMARKA DANCE (STATE FAIR)
dance company

This dance is about Russian Yarmarka. Everyone is selling and buying all kinds of gift ware. But there is no good Yarmolka without dancing. All the boys and girls are dancing. The dancers fall in love.

KATJUSHA
russian folk song

One of Russia's most enduring traditional melodies.

NONE, BUT THE LONELY HEART
music by P.Tchaikovsky

Revered in Russia where a grand hall bears his name, and where the world's most prestigious competition for introducing young artists to the world is held in his honor. Peter Illytch Tchaikovsky is clearly the doyen of Russian's family of composers. Prolific creator of symphonies, tone poems, ballets, operas, concertos, and chamber works, he somehow also found the time to compose simple, but immortal melodies. One of his most beautiful is "None, But The Lonely Heart (Can Know Such Anguish)".

RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM
music by M.Glinka

National anthem of Russia, or patriotic song, with text by Alexander Mashistov, is a tribute to Moscow, the heart of Russia, whose history is inseparable from that of the motherland.

"THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. . .WAHOO! "
-Kansas City Star

The given here list of concert items - it only a small part of extensive repertoire. This list is given only for the characteristic of a general direction of ensemble creativity. Structure and sequence of items in a particular concert programs allows as much as possible brightly to present creative opportunities of collective and to reach the greatest spectator effect.